Reply to Sir John Hall's 'Observations' on the report of the Sanitary Commission, despatched to the seat of war in the East, 1855-56 / by John Sutherland.

  • Sutherland, John, 1808-1891.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reply to Sir John Hall's 'Observations' on the report of the Sanitary Commission, despatched to the seat of war in the East, 1855-56 / by John Sutherland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    admitted even approached to what the wards were capable of containing. Sir John Hall visited these Hospitals in October 1854, and reported to the Director-General on the 20th of the month, that they were in a very satisfac- tory condition, and this at a time when all England was roused to indignation about them, and just before tlie arrival of Miss Nightingale with the nurses at Scutari. Even at that period, and while the ca- tastrophe which followed from the sanitary defects was pending, the importance of these defects was not even recognized. We liave stated in our Eeport the measures we put in force to remedy the sanitary evils at all the Hospitals, and we have given a table showing the immense falling off in the mortality on the remaining and admissions up to June 30, 1855, at which period the mortality on the remaining and admissions had fallen to nearly a tenth part of what it was when the works were commenced. We gave the results in our Report as they occurred; but at the same time expressed an opinion, that part was due to the improved health of the army in the Crimea. These results, however, are in themselves so con- demnatory of the previous neglect, that Sir John Hall, while expressing his contempt for the trifling sanitary improvements' which he had moreover on * The folio-wing were the trifling sanitary improvements, he alludes to, directed by the Commission, and carried out at the Hospitals on the Bosphorus, partly by their own ofEcera, 1. Daily cleansing the vicinity and squares oi* all the Hospitals, and the burial of dead animals. 2. Opening, deodorizing, and cleansing of drains of Hospitals. 3. Erecting flushing tanks at the head of all the drains, and at the privies in the Barrack-square, and flush- ing out the entire drainage and sewerage three and four times a day. 4. Diverting the privy drains from under the General Hospital. 5. Trapping and ventilating all the sewers, and placing flaps over their open mouths, to prevent sewer-air blowing into the Hospitals. 6. Eemoving the upper part of the windows in the privies and galleries to allow sewer-air to escape before enter- ing the wards and corridors. 7. Closing 50 Turkisli privies, and